EA Shuts Down Maxis

If you have been playing the SimCity games, you probably already know that Maxis is the developer behind the titles. Sadly, we have some bad new if you were hoping to see future titles released under the Maxis banner. The bad news is that EA has recently announced that they will be shutting down Maxis.

Take a deep breath. This does not mean that there will no longer be future SimCity or The Sims titles, it just means that development of those games will be moved to EA’s own studios at Redwood Shores, California; Salt Lake City; Helsinki; and Melbourne, Australia. EA has released a statement confirming the shutdown, but declined to comment on how many employees were affected by it. It’s a sad day for a lot of people. EA says, “Today we are consolidating Maxis IP development to our studios in Redwood Shores, Salt Lake City, Helsinki and Melbourne locations as we close our Emeryville location. Maxis continues to support and develop new experiences for current Sims and SimCity players, while expanding our franchises to new platforms and developing new cross-platform IP.”

EA also clarifies, “These changes do not impact our plans for The Sims. Players will continue to see rich new experiences in The Sims 4, with our first expansion pack coming soon along with a full slate of additional updates and content in the pipeline.”

Hopefully this will at least lead to better games for fans of those franchises.